Minnesota Wild left wing Zach Parise (11) celebrates with teammate Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom after the 4 to 1 win over the Colorado Avalanche game season opener game of the Minnesota Wild against the Colorado Avalanche at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Jaunuary 19,2013. (Pioneer Press: Sherri LaRose-Chiglo)

When Zach Parise blasted a slap shot from the slot for a goal in the Wild’s 1-0 victory over Dallas on Sunday, Jan. 20, parents J.P. and Donna Parise were seated 15 rows behind the net at the Xcel Energy Center.

“I texted him and said, ‘Gosh, you must have been working on your shot during the lockout,’ ” J.P. recounted Tuesday. “That was one fine shot.”

Zach Parise is a left wing, the same position that his father, a popular North Star, played during nine NHL seasons in Minnesota. His son’s winning goal was reminiscent of some of the slap shots J.P. used to fire.

“Yeah, shooting with my wooden stick,” J.P. said with a laugh. “My shots had to be a little closer in.”

Zach Parise is happy that his parents, who live in Prior Lake, can now regularly see him play. He was in New Jersey, where he captained the Devils, before signing with the Wild.

The Wild’s game on Tuesday night against Nashville in St. Paul was the third straight Parise’s parents were to watch in person behind the net, courtesy of Zach.

“It’s cool; they didn’t get a chance to go out to New Jersey too much,” Zach said. “To be able to drive 30, 45 minutes to watch a game, that’s pretty special for them. For me, from having my dad play here all those years, it’s great. It’s special for both of us.”

J.P., who is 71 and coached Zach as a youngster, remains humble about his son, who received a $98 million, free agent contract from the Wild in July.

“How childish is this to say, but I’m just a father, and Donna and I just want to see our child succeed,” he said. “I’m just elated that he looks like he’s having such a fun time and he’s helping the team win and that he’s got a smile on his face.”

Zach Parise is 28. Brother Jordy, 30, is the No. 1 goaltender for the Valpellice Bulldogs, who just won the Italian Cup for the first time. J.P. and Donna Parise will travel to Italy next month to see him play.

Trent Baalke, the San Francisco 49ers’ general manager, graduated in 1987 from Bemidji State, where he was a defensive standout, and was linebackers coach at Inver Hills Community College in 1988.

St. Paul’s Tim Tschida officially announced his retirement Tuesday after 27 years as a major league umpire at the Old Timers Hot Stove banquet at the Prom Center in Oakdale.

Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey will be in town this week to watch DeLaSalle’s 6-7 Reid Travis work out.

One of Minnesota’s most accomplished golfers, Clayton Johnson from St. Paul, died Sunday in Forest Lake at age 81 of lung cancer. Johnson, playing for University High, won the state high school championship in 1947, the State Amateur in 1957 and the State Open in 1967 and 1971. He finished second in the Minnesota PGA tournament nine times.

Johnson also played the PGA Tour on and off from 1966 through 1969, after which he became the head professional at Como Park Golf Course through 1985. Among his feats was besting legend Arnold Palmer in the Texas Open, Johnson shooting 71, Palmer 73 in the late 1960s. Johnson also is remembered for having given Pat Nixon, wife of President Richard Nixon, a lesson at Fort Snelling Golf Club while she was in Minnesota for a civic event.

Johnson’s brother, Howie, 87, who won the state high school championship in 1948 and also was a tour player, resides in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Clayton’s son Jeff, 50, was a five-time club champion at Como Park.

There’s already whispering that Southern California, which fired Kevin O’Neill as men’s basketball coach the other day, has the Gophers’ Tubby Smith on its radar. At USC, Smith could end up with $1 million more in annual compensation than he gets from the Gophers, for a total of about $3 million. And he would have state-of-art facilities, including a practice facility like the one he has coveted at Minnesota.

Smith’s contract runs through the 2016-17 season but includes an understanding that new terms can be discussed after this season. If he gets the Gophers to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament, it’s almost imperative that Minnesota renegotiate.

For the Wild’s 8 p.m. season opener against Colorado on Saturday, Tom Reid‘s Hockey City Pub was filled to capacity at 4 p.m. Up the block at Patrick McGovern’s Pub and Restaurant, proprietor Pat Boehmer reported the second-largest volume of sales during the Wild’s 12-year history in St. Paul.

Marc Trestman’s hiring already has made an impact. Within two days of the Chicago Bears hiring the former Gophers quarterback as head coach last week, his biography, “Perseverance: Life Lessons on Leadership and Teamwork,” by local author Ross Bernstein, went from a ranking on Amazon in excess of 1 million to the top 100.

OVERHEARD

Zach Parise’s father, former North Star J.P., on having his son playing for the hometown Wild: “You walk around, and there’s a nice buzz about Minnesota hockey. It’s nice to see that people are excited to see the game back. I find that’s great.”

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